English actor Toby Kebbell has one of those faces that's seemingly made out of Play-Doh. You may have seen him in such films as RocknRolla, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time and The Sorcerer's Apprentice, but that's not to say that you'd necessarily recognise him.

For this gritty thriller, Kebbell steps into the limelight as the leading man, in this familiar tale of a war veteran returning home, with an urban twist.

Although the decrepit housing estate he's returning to is far from hospitable, Robert Miller (Kebbell) is happy to be home. He's served his time in the Paras out in Afghanistan, and he's clearly glad to be out of it.

But as any solider returning from war can testify, readjusting to normal life is no easy task. His friend Danny (Tom Brooke) from the Paras helps him out with some work through his brother Chris (Tony Curran). Soon his path crosses that of Langdon (Brian Cox), who works for the Home Office. Langdon informs him of some terrorist cells operating in London, and asks for his help in dealing with them, to which he agrees.

When he's not busy keeping an eye on bad guys, Robert is getting hassle from a gang of youths that have declared the estate he lives on as their own. Before too long he finds he may have left one war behind, but unexpectedly stepped into another.

I tell you what, this takes playing COD to a whole new level.

For only his second feature, director Matthew Hope shows a lot of promise. He's captured the greyness that exists on these urban estates perfectly, without resorting to silly gangland clichés. Where he loses the plot however, quite literally, is with the script, which he also wrote. It's overly complicated at times, making it really difficult to understand exactly what is going on. At one point, for example, Robert is attacked by a group of Eastern European/Russian types. It's never made clear if anyone actually sent them, or they just happened to be passing by and thought they would pop in for a spot of bother.

Kebbell does well as the disillusioned soldier though; the only downside to his character is that he's given no back story whatsoever regarding his family life in the UK. Is there a reason as to why he's one of very few tenants, living alone, in a flat that looks soon to be demolished? Considering how many of the types he plays in Hollywood films are dialled way past eleven, he puts in a remarkably restrained and thoughtful performance.

Although Hope may well have thought that he had come up with a nice twist on the returning hero theme, in truth it probably only complicates matters. Perhaps if he had concentrated on clearly communicating the most dominant part of his story, The Veteran would have packed a far more powerful punch than it does.

Still, one thing may work in Kebbell's favour; there's probably more chance of recognising him in his future films.